The Search for Immortality
A mysterious visitor visits Mark, a young blacksmith, to bring terrible news about his dying wife. Mark is forced to find the Fountain of Youth to save her. He adventures with Anne Seahound, a waitress at the tavern "King's Arm" on Tortuga, who has long dreamed of seeing the fountain. On their journey, Mark and Anne encounter wicked mermaids, a deadly kraken, and Spanish guards. Will Mark be able to save his wife from her death? Read on to find out... Story and Illistrations: Spike1234﻿ Chapter 1: The Mysterious Visitor In a small village there lived a young man of the age of 29 named Mark. He was a skinny, black haired man. He was a blacksmith at his store "Mark's Smithery". Mark was creating a cutlass when he heard a knock on the door. "Come in!" he yelled. The door creaked open and a man in a dark cloak came inside. "Who are you?" Mark questioned. The man put down his hood to reveal a young face with a brown beard and hair. The man had dark, beady eyes. "I am here to bring you news," the man said softly. "Your wife is dying in the hospital." "What? How do I know what you say to me is true?" Mark was doubting that this man was telling the truth. "Well," the man said, "you can see for yourself. The two men arrived at the hospital. Indeed, Mark's wife Caroline was dying. "No," Mark said, kneeling by the bed his wife laid on. "Impossible! No!" Mark sobbed. He was devastated. "I can't let this happen!" "There is a way... to stop this," the man told him. "A fountain. Whoever drinks from the Fountain of Youth, will become immortal." Mark looked at his wife, she was suffering. He couldn't let this happen to her "Where can I find this fountain?" Mark asked. "The waitress at the 'King's Arm' tavern knows more about this than I. She can take you to where it is,"the man told Mark. Mark walked over to the tavern "King's Arm" to meet this waitress. When he opened the door he immediately spotted her. She was the only waitress working at this time, as the man told him before he left. As Mark approached the counter, the waitress said, "May I help you?" "I am Mark, and you must be Anne Seahound." "Yes," the waitress replied. "I need information on the Fountain of Youth," Mark said. The waitress looked up at him in surprise. "Well," she began, "what you seek... it's.... well.... dangerous." "What do you mean?" "Well, not the fountain itself, the road to the fountain is the dangerous part." "How?" "Well, you see... the only way to get to it is a certain path. And this path isn't the safest path..." "Will you be willing to take me?" Mark asked. Anne looked at him with a nervous face. "Go with. . . you? To the Fountain of Youth?" Anne's expression changed from nervous to a mix of excited, nervous, and happy. "I would love to! It's my dream to find the Fountain of Youth!" "Well, I guess that's good then.," Mark said to her."I guess we should get going, and do you have a map?" "I do!" Anne said and pulled out a small parchment with a map on it. "Well then, let us go." Chapter 2: The Road to the Fountain of Youth Anne was jumping up and down in excitement. Mark got his ship ready to sail. He took a hold of the wheel and started to sail. "Where to first?" Mark asked. "Oh, yes," Anne said, calming down a bit. "First we go to the Black Bay. Its a bit far so we can dock at the island to sleep. I found it as I sailed through the bay. The island is actually right in the middle of the bay." "Well, off we go," Mark said. He too was excited; however, his excitment was at no close degree as Anne's. "So, why do you seek the Fountain of Youth?" Anne asked. "My wife. She's dying of an illness. The doctors expect her to live no more than one more month," Mark said. He was becoming sad thinking about it. He was almost even in tears. "Well, I'm very sorry," Anne said. She too, was almost crying.﻿ The ship sailed up to a dark water. Anne and Mark looked down at the water. "Well, this is it," Anne said. Mark took the ship's steering wheel again and sailed to the nearby island and docked. Chapter 3: The Black Lagoon Anne and Mark unpacked their supplies. They set up a camp near a cliff. The island was rocky and the water was dirty. They found a nice dirt patch to stick the tent poles into. Anne cooked some food she had brought. Mark was finishing unpacking when he took out a picture of Caroline. "Hey, Anne!" Mark yelled. "Yeah?" Anne asked "Im going' down to the beach for a while," Mark told her. "Okay," Anne said. "I'll call you when dinners ready." Mark walked down to the beach and sat on the soft sand. He looked up at the millions of stars in the sky. He looked back down at the picture of Caroline, when he heard a splash. At first he thought it was just a fish, then he noticed a soft voice in the air. The voice grew louder. It was beautiful. It was irresistible. The voice stopped, then started again. A figure rose out of the waters. It sang the beautiful song. Her hair was clipped back with a sea flower. A fin was out of the water behind her. It moved in a side-to-side motion. Mark walked toward the woman. He needed to hear the song better. He needed to be closer to the beautiful creature in the waters. She grabbed his hand softly, welcoming him to the waters. She kept singing her amazing song as she guided Mark into the dark water. The voice was interrupted by a yell. A far away yell. The creature dove into the waters. A blue fin splashed behind her as she left. "Mark!" Anne yelled. "I called you for supper but you didn't answer so I came to- What on Earth! What are you doing! You'r soaked!" Mark didn't even realize he was halfway in the water. "Oh, sorry," Mark said. Chapter 4: Danger from the Depths The next day Anne and Mark loaded their supplies into the ship's cargo. They got aboard the ship and began to sail off. "Where to next?" Mark asked. "Lets see.... right past Cuba to Florida. Then we'll go over to Saint Augustine, home of the Fountain of Youth," Anne said. She smiled at the thought of the Fountain. "Alright then," Mark replied. Anne hung over the railing of the boat and let her fingers run across the water softly. Suddenly she looked startled and looked down closely at the water. "Mark," Anne said. "Yeah," Mark looked over to her to see what was going on. "There's something in the water," Anne said nervously. "Yeah, its called fish," Mark said. He started to think Anne had never been near water in her life. "No, but this one is big," she said. Her eyes grew wider and wider. There was a loud crash and Anne fell down to the floor of the deck. Mark hung on to the steering wheel. A large brownish tentacle swung wildly. It smashed through the mermaid statue on the front of the ship. "Shoot it!" Mark yelled. Anne hastily loaded the cannon as Mark steered the ship away. The tentacle raised up, ready to smash the boat in half. "Fire!" Mark ordered. Anne lit the cannon and covered her ears. The cannon shot throught the tentacle and sent it right back into the water. At first they were revealed, then at least ten more tentacles poped out of the water and swung aroung. One struck the main mast hard, breaking it into two. The top part of it landed in front of Anne. The sail covered her. "Mark!" she yelled. Mark turned around and flicked out his dagger. He cut through the sail and helped Anne out. They needed to get off the ship. "Abandon ship!" Mark yelled at Anne. They hurried over to the lifeboat. Just then, a tentacle smashed through another mast. The mast landed next to them. Mark lowered the lifeboat down to the water. Another tentacle struck the side of the ship. The ship rocked to the side and sent Mark flying off the deck. Mark hung onto the fallen mast and dangled over the water. He could see the bright eye of the monster looking up at him. Anne jumped into the lifeboat and paddled under Mark. "Let go!" she said. Mark let go and fell onto the lifeboat. They paddled away as the ship was swallowed to the depths. Chapter 5: The Fountain of Youth Mark and Anne docked at Florida. They got a taxi to Saint Augustine. When they got there, they were surprised to see a long line. "What's goin' on?" Anne asked a woman in front of them. "They are checking to make sure you are a citizen. British spies have been entering here," the woman answered. Mark and Anne grew nervous. They didn't know what to do. They were up next. "Let me see your passport," the guard said. "Oh, dear!" Anne said. "I forgot it in my home! You know me though, don't you?. "Um..." The guard inspected Anne closely. "Oh, yes! Your Miss Garduet! And this is...." "My brother. He's visiting," Anne said with a fake smile. "Okay then. Go on," the guard said. When they were far Anne said, "That was close. Come on. Lets go before they become suspicious. Anne opened up the parchment with the map on it. "This way, to the coal mine," she said. They hurried down an alley, but before they got out, a guard stopped Mark. "You go ahead miss. We need to ask your 'brother' a few questions," the guard said. Anne looked nervous and headed towards a bridge. "Who are you. For real!" the guard said. "Mark," Mark told him. "Last name?" the guard questioned. Mark forgot the last name the guard had called Anne. He couldn't make up a name. They have charts and would know if the woman who they think Anne is is married or to whom the woman is married to. They may even know her previous last name if she is even married. Mark thought fast and grabbed and egg carton from the market. He smashed it over the guards head. The guard wasn't knocked out, but he was stunned. The other guard was so surprised he just stood there for a couple of seconds. This was Marks chance to escape. He took off and ran toward the bridge; grabbing Anne by the arm and they sprinted off towards the old coal mine, their destination. When they got to the coal mine, they found the secret door that led to the passage that led to the fountains chamber. When they got to the end, they saw a room with a large platform full of coal. It was held up by wood stilts. There was a golden door with the words "Aqua de Vida" above it. That was it. 5 guards guarded it. They needed to get past. "Now what?" Mark asked. "Those barrels are explosive. We can blow up that platform and crush the guards in coal," Anne said. "There are some guns," Mark said, pointing to a barrel of guns. Mark picked one up quickly so the guards didn't notice, and blasted the barrels. The platform collapsed and buried the guards. Anne opened the door excitedly and was amazed at what she saw. There was a beautiful fountain with a stain glass window behind it with the words "Aqua de Vida" again. Anne took out a jar and scooped up water. "For your wife," she said. The two explored for a while then left without taking a sip out of the fountain. "I believe there is a time for me to die. Im don't want immortality," Anne told Mark as they explored. Mark agreed. Getting out was easy. They let you out without looking at you. Anne and Mark left on their longboat and withing a couple of hours were home. Chapter 6: A Grave Mistake Mark and Anne rushed to the hospital. The man was there again. Caroline was in the corner, being held by a large guard. The man gave a twisted smile. "What's going on!" Mark asked. Anne yelped when one of the man's guards pulled a cloth into her mouth and held her to him. Anne tried to break free but failed. "Leave them alone!" Mark yelled. The guard holding Anne took her bag and tossed it to the man. "Don't you get it Mark?" the man said. "I used you. Your wife wasn't going to die!﻿ She was simply under a voodo spell. Now that we have the water of immortality, we will be immortal!" The man laughed an evil laugh and took out the water jar from Anne's bag. "No!" Mark yelled and jumped at him. The jar crashed at the floor. "Fool!" The man cried. Anne headbutted the guard holding her and kicked him right in the head. "Get help!" Mark yelled to her. Anne ran out the door as fast as she could. The man got up and looked at the shattered glass. "No!" he cried. He took out a sharp cursed cutlass and swung it at Mark. Mark grabbed it and yanked it from his hand and held it to his throat. Anne came into the room with navy officers who then seized the man. "We'll take it from here," an officer said and threw him into the carriage along with his body guards. Mark ran towards Caroline and hugged her. Mark, Caroline and Anne went over to King's Arm for a meal and time to process what had all just happened. The Creation of The Story Characters Mark- Mark was based off of one of my pirates. I chose him because he looked to me like he fit the story well. He was one of the easiest characters to think of. Anne Seahound - Anne was a little more difficult to think of. I chose to make her in the outfit she is in because i thought it fit a waitress. Also the ponytail made me think of an adventurous girl. Scenes The Kraken - The idea of a kraken attacking at this moment was my brother's idea. He told me i should have the ship destroyed, so i made this happen with a Kraken. St. Augustine: Well i just googled were the Fountain of Youth was supposed to be and it said Saint Augustine :-) The mermaid - The mermaid scene took longest. I thought it was good to ave a mermaid in a lagoon. I used Anne to be the mermaid and later photoshoped her. It took many pictures to get the best one. Here are some of the pictures I took: mermaid 4.PNG mermaid 6.PNG mermaid 3 (2).PNG mermaid -.PNG Category:Fan Creations Category:Fan Stories